Improvement in lifting-hooks for striking-clocks



l. CONNDR.

Lifting Hpuks for Striking-Clocks.

N0.155,224. Patentd Sept. 22;, 1874.

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UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE.

JOHN CONNOR, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY.

IMPROVEMENT lN LlFTlNG-HOOKS FOR STRIKING-CLOCKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 155,224, dated September 22, 1874; application filed August 5, 1874.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN GoNNon, of Jersey city, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and Improved Lifting-Hook for Striking- Olocks, of which the following is a specification:

Figure 1 is a face view, partly in section, of a striking clock provided with my improved lifting-hook. Figs. 2 and'3 are detail perspective views, showing the liftinghook in different positions.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

The object of this invention is to provide American striking-clocks of all kinds with mechanism that will allow the hands to be turned back without interfering with the striking mechanism, and without injury to any of the parts of the clock.

The invention seeks to attain this end without adding anything to the mechanism of ordinary clocks; and differs, in this regard, from the devices heretofore proposed, which, in order to attain the same end, require the interposition of additional levers, or other mechanism.-

The invention consists, solely, in a new form of lifting-hook, whereby the same is enabled to pass the wire of the lock-work without affecting the striking mechanism whenever the hands are set backward; while, when the hands are set forward, it will lift the wire of the look-work, and cause the clock to strike.

In the drawing, the letter A represents the frame of a suitable American or yankee clock. B is the spindle carrying the minutehand, and rotated, by connection with the mainsprin g, in the usual manner. This spindle carries, as usually, a projecting lifting hook, O, for actuating the lock-workthat is, the striking mechanisnF-onoe every hour, or at other suitable intervals. I) is that wire of the lock-work which extends toward the spindle B, and is to be directly actuated by the lifting-hook.

The end of the wire I) rests against the body of the spindle, as indicated, and when the spindle B is turned to the right, in the direction of the arrow shown in Fig. 3, the

lifting hook will enter beneath the wire I), and lift said wire from contact with the spindle B, and thus affect the striking mechanism in the requisite manner.

The peculiarity of my lifting-hook is, that its front edge ethat is to say, the edge which is turned toward the wire bis inclined toward the spindle B. The angle of inclination maybe about thirty-five degrees, more or less, where heretofore the same edge of the lifting -hook was always ninety degrees t0 the axis of the spindle. The same edge a, besides being inclined to the spindle, is also beveled with reference to the faces of the lifting-hook, causing the lefthand face of the hook to be narrower than the righthand face when the hook projects upward from the spindle. Thus the edge a is doubly inclined.

The effect of this shape is that, if the hook is turned in the direction of the arrow 1, (shown in Fig. 2,)-that is to say, if the minute-hand is set back--the liftinghook, on reaching the wire I), will not lift said wire off the spindle, nor will it bend or break the wire, or be bent or broken itself, but it will, with its doubly-inclined edge a, come in contact with the end of the wire I), and slightly push the said wire, in line with the axis of the spindle, in the direction indicated by the arrow 2 in Fig. 2. This very slight motion is permitted to the wire I) by its spring, and, after the hook O has passed it, the wire b will resume its former position by virtue of the same springing property. When, however, the spindle B is turned to the right, as already stated, the outer edge or end of the hook C will come under the wire I), and lift it off the spindle, and cause the clock to strike.

The lifting-hook maybe made of a plate of brass, of nearly triangular form, as shown in the drawing; or it may be made of a single wire, set inclined on the spindle B, the effect being, in both cases. identical; but it is preferable to use the hook in the form shown, because it thereby acquires a broader end, and is more likely to take hold of the wire 12, causing the clock to strike even if the parts of the clock should not be made with the ut most care and exactitude.

I claim as my invention In a striking-clock, the lifting-hook O, having' the inclined edge a, for operation substantially as herein shown and described.

JOHN CONNOR.

Witnesses:

A. V. BRIESEN, F. V. BRIESEN. 

